We owe our readers the truth. The lawsuit goes back to November 2020 when Feeding Our Future alleged that since Sept. 8, 2020, it had submitted 51 applications to open new distribution centers in low-income and minority communities that MDE failed to process. When MDE employees pressed Bock for clarification, Bock accused MDE of discrimination and unfairly scrutinizing Feeding Our Futures sites. She has also a Director of Operations from 2015 to 2018. I mean, we were in lockdown. This week, the executive director of Feeding our Future denied allegations of fraud in connection with federal food aid programs and gave her side of the story in an in-depth interview with Sahan Journal. SEE ALSO | Elizabeth Holmes requests new trial; key witness 'expresses misgivings,' filing says. Artan registered Stigma-Free International, a non-profit entity used to carry out the scheme with sites throughout Minnesota, including in Willmar, Mankato, St. Funds are available from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) who contracts with state agencies to administer the program. She did that a minimum of once a month. They were down to a couple of gas stations. Before joining Sahan Journal, he worked for close to a decade in New Mexico, where his reporting prompted the resignation We want to hear from you. If they would have asked, they would have known it was from a sale of an independent business. Baraanbur Mahadcelin ah Feeding Our Future MN Aimee Bock oo u Dagalantay Dadka laga tiro badan yahay They can purchase food from our small local grocery stores, from our halal markets, and those are the folks that are being attacked. Men tied to alleged Feeding Our Future fraud donated to reelection campaign of Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, records show. Bock was just executive director of Feeding Our Future, which is under investigation for receiving millions of dollars in food aid. She's also not allowed to have contact with anyone who was a victim, a witness or a co-defendant in the case. Bock said Feeding Our Future kept about 10% of the money it received though the nutrition programs for administrative fees, which worked out to about $19 million in 2021. This is a scheme that begins with Aimee Bock and Feeding Our Future, said Andrew Luger, the U.S. Attorney for Minnesota, at a press conference announcing the charges against 47 suspects. It has scaled back significantly, but during that time, they were one of the few sources of food in that area. Help us reach 150 new monthly donors by March 15. The defendants went to great lengths to exploit a program designed to feed underserved children in Minnesota amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, fraudulently diverting millions of dollars designated for the program for their own personal gain. Bock: Yes. Litigation is ongoing and the non-profit said it would also protest in front of the MDE building in Roseville. She has to defend herself against the search warrants, and the search warrants took liberties, significant liberties, factually.. . As weve returned to normal, now their size is not that large. Instead, they prioritized their own greed, stealing more than a quarter of a billion dollars in federal funds to purchase luxury cars, houses, jewelry and coastal resort property abroad. Everything was frozen. They bid on a job. Emergency shelters and afterschool programs are reimbursed at the free rate. ". U.S. Attorney Andrew Luger on Tuesday announced charges against founder Aimee Bock and others that include conspiracy, wire fraud, money laundering, and bribery. To keep up the ruse, the defendants allegedly submitted false invoices for food served to the children and lists of fake names to show who was fed. It consisted of a kitchen upgrade, which is still in process. Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc. Between November 2020 and November 2021, Stigma-Free Willmar, a food site sponsored by Feeding Our Future, purported to feed 2,000 children a daywhich would have constituted about half the students in the Willmar Public Schools. Have questions about your recurring donation to Sahan Journal, want to change your donation, or want to become a sustainer? Udoibok called the disclosure of allegations without making charges or indictments grossly unfair to Bock. So when I was approached about selling it, it was a relief. This site claimed to have served more than 1.6 million meals and received approximately $5 million in fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. Abdulkadir Salah was an owner and operator of Safari Restaurant, a site that received more than $16 million in fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. Aimee Bock in the Feeding Our Futures offices in St. Anthony, Minnesota on Jan. 31 2022. In the lawsuit, the department alleges that Feeding Our Futures auditor failed to file the audit properly, did not update its budget worksheet, has been slow to hire an accountant, that its applications was riddled with typos, and that it is investigating four complaints filed against the non-profit. pic.twitter.com/kIrHaDdRrK. We work with child care centers, adult care centers, emergency shelters and afterschool programs to provide nutritious meals to individuals that would otherwise have limited access.. Bock said that in 2021, Feeding Our Future completely denied 10 to 15 applications from nonprofits and partially denied countless others. Why are we only looking at the profit margins of our small minority-owned businesses?. Subscribe to, Feeding Our Future fraud investigation puts nonprofits under Minnesota lawmakers' microscope | FOX 9, An attorney for the Minnesota Department of Education said Wednesday that a federal investigation is ongoing into what he called "one of the largest fraud occurrences in state history" at a meals program and hinted about grand jury involvement. Abdihakim Ahmed created ASA Limited LLC, a site that received approximately $5 million in fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. She is also working as an MNCPD Approved Trainer. The USDAs Food and Nutrition Service administers the program throughout the nation by distributing federal funds to state governments. They approached me about purchasing the center. She was an accreditation coordinator for the Minnesota Association for the Education of Young Children and was center director and a lead infant teacher for Knowledge Universe. But to say stole? Documents say Bock oversaw the scheme and that she and Feeding Our Future sponsored the opening of nearly 200 federal child nutrition program sites throughout the state, knowing that the sites intended to submit fraudulent claims, "Feeding Our Future employees recruited individuals and entities to open Federal Child Nutrition Program sites throughout the state of Minnesota," the Justice Department said in a release. We utilize the Child and Adult Care Food Program to increase healthy food access for Minnesota's youth and seniors, "You cannot feed the hungry on statistics". Eligible nonprofit organizations partner with the Minnesota Department of Education to sponsor unaffiliated sites participation inthe CACFP. In accordance with federal civil rights law and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, and employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, age, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA. That means it needs to be free! To get reimbursed, Bock said the nonprofits must submit documentation to Feeding Our Future, including the menu of meals theyve served, the number of meals served, receipts for the meals, and, sometimes, attendance records of the children served. Here is the moment Aimee Bock and her two attorneys arrived at the courthouse (maybe about 10:45am). She has more than 15 years of experience at daily newspapers. Feeding Our Future went from receiving and disbursing approximately $3.4 million in federal funds in 2019 to nearly $200 million in 2021, according to DOJ. Bock's attorney, Kenneth Udoibok, said the indictment "doesn't indicate guilt or innocence." Said was an owner and operator of Safari Restaurant, a site that received more than $16 million in fraudulent Federal Child Nutrition Program funds. The court finds the MDE in constructive civil contempt for violating a court order, the entry of which it negotiated and stipulated to, Guthmann wrote. The search warrant alleges Bocks boyfriend spent some of this money on a Las Vegas trip where he paid $21,000 on a rental car, $9,000 at Caesars Palace, $6,700 at Gucci, and $3,500 at Louis Vuitton. Bock: I dont know what he spent it on when he was there. Why are we only looking at the profit margins of our small minority-owned businesses? Meanwhile, Aimee Bock of Feeding. Bock was the. . This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Federal authorities charge 48 people in Feeding Our Future investigationallegedly largest pandemic fraud in the United States.. The Associate Press contributed to this report. We actually got additional services beyond the scope of what was contracted, but that money was spent legally within the realms of the program. And they paid $225,000 of that money in bribes and kickbacks to Abdikerm Eidleh, the Feeding Our Future employee who served as the site support manager in Willmar. Joey Peters is a reporter for Sahan Journal. : The following people are named in the indictment United States v. Qamar Ahmed Hassan, et al. Last week, the landlord of the Burnsville building listed as The Learning Journey filed an eviction lawsuit against Bock and others, alleging $30,000 in unpaid rent since October 2021. I dont recall the date off the top of my head. That lobby was not there. For one, they allege the state department fed the FBI bad information. That bad information is that Feeding Our Future grew too fast and that the number of children it reported feeding was unrealistic. During the pandemic, when schoolsoften an important source of childrens mealsshut down, these reimbursements amounted to millions of dollars each month. But the roster, authorities say, was fake. The other reality is due to the COVID pandemic, the USDA issued waivers that allow parent pickup as well as home delivery. Be as detailed as possible. Aimee Bock, executive director of the now-defunct Feeding Our Future, allegedly recruited dozens of individuals to open more than 200 food sites. Between 2018 and 2021, Feeding Our Future accessed $244 million from two U.S. Department of Agriculture programs: the Child and Adult Care Food Program and the Summer Food Service Program. They purchase the food. 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